EXCLUSIVE: Workshop for Disabled May Slash Benefits Due to Obamacare

Obamacare Hurting Those Who Can Least Afford It

HARRISONVILLE, MO – The Casco Area Workshop is a sheltered workshop that provides jobs for the disabled. Recently it was announced that they may be forced to reduce benefits & hours due to the Affordable Care Act which requires any business over 50 full-time employees to pay for their healthcare. [contextly_sidebar id=”70f63945d5c359fa3e0a00cc815da919″]

The Casco Workshop employs around 180 disabled workers plus 60 regular staff with jobs that they would have a difficult time acquiring anywhere else. There are no exemptions for special workplaces such as this one. Casco is a ‘sheltered workshop’ which is a facility-based day program that is attended by adults with disabilities as an alternative to working in the open labor market. The average productivity for each worker is estimated to be at around 10%.

Vice President of the Board John David Petersen said, “Casco would not be able to keep their doors open if they were forced to provide the benefits required under the ACA for all employees. Employees will have to seek health benefits elsewhere in order for us to continue to provide them with employment.”

Due to the ACA, there was a change in what was considered a full-time employee. The IRS requires that anyone who works 30 hours per week had to be classified as a full-time employee. The workshop went from having to offer insurance to 60 people to being required to offer it to 180 people.

Peggy Kutchback, the Executive Director at Casco Area Workshop said that the workshop is going to cut hours from 30 to 28, which doesn’t completely solve the problem. The IRS will still demand to know how many people are working and will total all of the hours divided by the total number of employees, which will show how many full-time equivalents there are. There is a requirement that medical contributions for a household cannot exceed 9.9%, which would require Casco to step in and fill in anything above that.

The catch is that the workshop could drop insurance entirely, and they are considering doing just that. If they offer insurance then their costs will go up 22% this year, and the projections are that it could go up 90% next year. If they offer no insurance however, the workers can be subsidized.

Missouri did not pass the Medicaid expansion bill, which has created a hole for the workers. If they are above 20%-120% of the federal poverty line they may be eligible for benefits, but would have to pay premiums at the exchange which are very high, if they are even able to sign up due to the broken Healthcare.gov website.

(Full Disclosure: John David Petersen is the father of the author of this article.)